Monday, July 8, 2013

Cover songs are a tricky thing: they can go really well or they can go terribly wrong, as I once wrote. Some versions are better than the original – purists, look away – while others are just OK, nothing special. There is one case, however, in which I can’t choose a favorite: “Don’t Dream It’s Over” – the original is absolutely wonderful, a song I would eagerly wait for the radios to play when I was a kid back in the day, and Sixpence None the Richer’s version is equally beautiful. Love both, can’t choose. And that is what happened with this cake: I once made the exact recipe given by Annie Bell, which is a lemon drizzle cake, and it tasted amazing. Then I adapted it a little, with orange and poppy seeds, and the result was oh, so delicious. I believe you can see how tender it turned out by the photo.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter and flour a 20x30cm (12x8in) baking pan.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in the poppy seeds.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar and zest together until very light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and scrape the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, beat in half the dry ingredients, then the milk and orange juice, then the remaining dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl again.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 5 minutes – while that happens, make the drizzle: in a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice and sugar. Prick the cake all over with a toothpick and gradually spoon the drizzle over it, waiting until the cake absorbs it all. Cool completely in the pan, then cut into squares.

Patricia - Your treats always look gorgeous. How do you do it?!? How did you get the cake out of the pan perfectly? When I butter and line my cake pans with parchment paper I get uneven crinkly edges. And if I don't use parchment I can't get them out whole. Please tell me what your secret is....

Just made this cake as we had several oranges sitting sadly in the fruit bowl not being eaten! It was delicious but made huge amounts of batter - I managed to get 25 good-size squares out of it. Think I'll try halving it next time :)